Saving Cinderella
by poeticgrace
Summary: Carly and Jason find their way back to each other in the midst of the quarantine. Jarly OS.


The last thing Jason Morgan had predicted when he woke up that morning was the end of his world as he knew it. However, hours later, he stood alone in an abandoned corridor, staring helplessly into an empty operating room with only the constant hum of Earl Braggs' flat lining heart monitor. Jason had always been good in a crisis, ready to act on his instinct alone at a moment's notice. However, there was nothing typical about this situation or how it had left him feeling. Things were beyond his control, and now he stood in a position to lose everything that mattered most to him.

As he stood there staring absently at the three vials of poison, he couldn't help but think about how one small step could have changed everything. If Sam has never been on the road. If one of them had swerved just a moment earlier. If Patrick had gotten the x-ray results back a few seconds earlier. If that nurse hadn't been in that hall. If Elizabeth had gone home to be with Lucky and her children rather than taking on an extra shift. If the blizzard had headed just a few miles out of the path of Port Charles. If Monica had been home grieving Emily rather than at work. If Jason had gotten to the Equinox truck earlier. If Carly hadn't decided to have the benefit tonight at the hospital.

Rubbing his hands over his face, Jason knew that it was the last of those what ifs that left him reeling. Knowing that she was in there was killing him. She had been the first thought on his mind when Spinelli realized that the boardroom's ventilation system was connected to the same one as the operating room where Matt Hunter had been performing surgery with his medical team. Concerns for Elizabeth and Monica were pushed to the back of his mind as he raced down the hallway. He had to get to Carly. It killed him that he couldn't rush in and save her. If it was only a matter of his own health, he would have swept her away in an instance. However, he had an entire hospital of people to save, and she would never forgive him if he put himself at risk.

And so, feeling as helpless as he had in many years, Jason had spoken to Carly through the door. He had managed to have a calm and soothing tone as he explained what was going on. Like him, Carly had always done well in a crisis. She was at her best when the adrenaline was pumping and her life was on the line. She was a prime example of grace under pressure, and he never doubted that she would do what she needed to do to get through this.

_Carly, you know if there was a way – if there was anything else I could do for you – I would._

_I know. _

Without even questioning why it was taking so long for the answers to come, Carly had been able to trust that Jason was doing everything he could to get her out of there. He knew that she knew that he would never leave her behind. A promise made years ago and proven over and over again, it was the cornerstone to their relationship and probably the only thing either of them truly trusted in the entire world. Whether it was the Port Charles Hotel fire or being trapped together after the train accident, Jason and Carly had fought side by side. He knew that this would be another historical event that would be included when they retold the great story of their shared lives. It was something he had always done – rescuing Carly, saving his own Cinderella.

He knew that he should go try to find out the latest details from Sam or get an update on the quarantined patients from Patrick or see what Spinelli had found out, but Jason couldn't seem to tear himself away from this place. The only place he wanted to be was inside that boardroom with Carly. Suddenly, as if she could sense his need, his cell phone rang from the inside pocket of his leather jacket. "Hello?"

"Jase, it's me."

"Carly," he breathed, closing his eyes as he exhaled gratefully. "Are you okay? What's going on?"

"They're starting to evacuate the rest of us one by one," she told him. "A couple more people have collapsed. We're going to send Edward out first too. Sonny and I decided that we would be the last ones out. I just wanted to let you know so you wouldn't worry about me."

His heart skipped a beat. She had to know that he would worry about her until he could hold her in his arms again, and even then, his anxiety would not subside completely until they were free from the confines of the hospital. "I'm coming to wait for you."

"Jase, you can't," she argued. "You have to promise me that you'll stay away. You've been exposed enough, and I won't have you risking your health just to wait in some hallway. I'll be out of here soon and I'll come find you. We have to be decontaminated, but as soon as Epiphany lets me go, you know that you're the first person I am going to find."

"Call me the minute you get out," he demanded. "Carly, promise me."

She could hear the fear in voice. "We're going to be okay, Jase. I promise you."

Jason was surprised to hear Carly make such a bold declaration. It was usually him that had to make such promises. It was the only way Carly could get through sometimes. However, she rarely made any vows to Jason because she hated to disappoint him. He knew that if she was saying this to him, she really had to believe that they were going to get out of their healthy and alive. "We have to be," he whispered. "Both of us, we have to be okay. Morgan needs his mother, and I can't do this without you."

After disconnecting the call, Jason headed back toward the lobby to find out what he could. Patrick was standing at the nurse's station deep in conversation with Sam when Jason came racing up. "We've been looking for you," Patrick said as he to him. "They're finishing decontaminating your aunt and your grandfather. I just checked with Epiphany and you're mother is still in critical condition. Elizabeth too."

"Lucky's in with her," Sam announced, her eyes meeting Jason's. She knew how hard it had been for her to see her now ex-boyfriend's allegiance to the nurse, and she didn't miss the flicker of regret in Jason's icy blue eyes. "Spinelli managed to shut down the ventilation system all over the hospital."

He only half listened as Patrick and Sam rattled off their updates. It wasn't long before Patrick's pager was giving off an emergency alert, sending him off to tend to patients scattered throughout the hospital. Sam sat back down on the sofa with Spinelli and started to go over the building's plans. Jason tried to focus as the three concocted a scheme, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to give anything his full concentration until he had seen her.

"Jase!"

Dropping the papers to the floor, Jason took off running down the hallway until Carly flew into his arms. He held her tightly against his body, burying his face in her silky golden tresses. Her fists grabbed at his leather coat desperately as she struggled to feel any sense of true normalcy in the midst of the chaos. She felt the wetness of his unexpected tears soaking through the thin cotton of her newly assigned scrubs. "I'm okay, Jase," she murmured softly as he tightened his embrace on her. "It's okay. We're okay."

Tucking strands behind her ears, he stared into her baby blue eyes until he was sure that this was real. After he had spent the last few hours imaging every bad possible scenario, it was kind of hard to believe that at least this small part of it was over. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked worriedly. "Do you feel nauseous or faint?"

"I'm okay," she repeated, punctuating her words for emphasis. "I was too busy worrying about you in there to even think of myself. Now that I know we're both fine, we can start figuring a way to get us all out of here alive. We have a little boy to get home to."

Jason thought about how nice it would be to be at the cottage right now, curled up on the sofa with Carly and Morgan while they watched one of those comedies that Carly loves so much. "I'm sorry that I wasn't in there with you," he apologized. "I should have come to the benefit."

"Hey, none of that," she retorted, tilting his chin so that their eyes met. "You were here when I needed you, and that's all that matters. You wouldn't have walked out of this hospital without me, no matter what the risk. I was glad you were out here and safe from those fumes. I knew that even if something happened to Sonny and me, Morgan would still have you to take care of him. You were my safety net even then, Jase. Besides, that doesn't really matter now anyhow. We're here now, together. I'm not leaving your side until they let us go home."

He entangled their fingers in a tight grip as he led her back to the lobby, taking advantage of the short walk to fill her in on all the details that he knew. While he would ordinarily want to protect her from this, he knew that Carly was determined to help him. He knew that she wouldn't let him push her away when Sam with Sam helping him. He didn't even want to. He wanted her with him so that he could watch over her. He hadn't been there when she had been locked in that boardroom, but he was going to be there for anything else that happened to her.

"Valkyrie!" Spinelli greeted her cheerfully before returning his attention back to his computer. He was glad that the blonde best friend of Stone Cold was freed from the boardroom because he knew that there was no way his mentor would be able to focus until she was out. He had barely asked any questions about Fair Elizabeth and had hesitated only slightly longer on his own mother before rushing off to keep vigil over Carly. Spinelli understood. It was exactly what he would have done for his Maxamista.

Carly smiled affectionately at the hacker before meeting Jason's watchful gaze. "What's that FBI agent of yours saying now?"

Jason explained what little he knew about the situation prior to Earl Bragg coming to General Hospital and then filled her in on the timeline of toxin exposure. He gave her a rundown of the affected patients and their last known statuses. When he mentioned his mother's name, Carly reached for his hand and didn't let go until he had taken the seat beside her. They unconscious folded into each other, Jason's arm around her as she leaned against his chest. "There's really not much else we can do at this point but wait," he confessed. "I don't have a plan for getting us out of here. It's waiting game more than anything." When he had finally finished telling her everything, Carly peered up at him.

"Is it okay if I'm scared?"

Jason nodded slightly before whispering in her ear, "I'm scared too."

"We'll be okay, though, Jase," she reminded him bravely, despite her slightly quivering bottom lip. "We need to find that other vial of poison. Why don't we go over the list of possible co-conspirators?" She was desperate for anything that would keep her busy.

Sam held up her legal pad filled with names of the people she, Spinelli and Lulu knew to be in the hospital. Spinelli had already began to go through the admittance records for the past several hours, updates to already admitted patients and the schedules of on-call hospital staff. They'd formed quite an impressive database of possible suspects, some likely and some completely absurd.

Jason shook his head as he looked over the list. It just seemed so insurmountable. He had no leads, no clues, no possible idea who was sick enough to wish such disaster on the people of Port Charles. As his eyes met those of his fearful best friend, it was the first time in more than ten years of love, friendship and family that Jason didn't have the answers to the questions he saw lingering there.

It would be hours before they would get out of General Hospital, and Jason would have to play hero more than a dozen times over the course of the evening to earn the entire building's entire freedom. Carly was by his side every step of the way. Never behind him or in front of him, she fought each of his battles as her own. Jason fell in love with her for the millionth time in the midst of that chaos, and when he stepped into the still falling snow of that February night, he slipped his leather-gloved hand in Carly's woolen-gloved one and slipped into the back of a warm limousine with her. And that night, with Morgan bundled in a fleece blanked between them, Carly and Jason talked for hours until she eventually fell asleep. It was only then that he would allow himself to follow after her.

The last thing Jason Morgan had predicted when he woke up that morning was the end of his world as he knew it. However, hours later, he lay with his family in a cozy bed, sleeping peacefully, dreaming hopefully of a perfect day with Carly and Morgan on a warm beach with only the crashing waves in his ears. Jason had never let himself believe that he deserved good things, willing to give it up all because of the life he had chosen. However, there was nothing typical about this situation or how it had left him feeling. Things might have been beyond his control, but he was finally in a position to get everything that mattered most to him.

_Fin._


End file.
